West Middlesex Family History Society

Middlesex Protestation Returns Project

Have you got back to the mid-seventeenth century with your research? If so, then you will be interested in a project currently being undertaken by the Society. We are currently working on the 1641/2 Protestation for Middlesex. In February 1641, Parliament decreed that all males over the age of 18 had to swear an oath of loyalty, ostensibly to the King, but in fact to Parliament. This protestation gives us a snapshot of the men who inhabited the whole country at that time. We are indexing the county of Middlesex, for which approx 80% of the returns are available (the other 20% were either not collected by the government or lost). Our project work has produced an index of over 16,000 names (with parishes).

The results of this work are available as a searchable index on the Society's PCs at meetings, open days and family history fairs. Search results will be provided in the form of a four-page information leaflet with a loose-leaf sheet(s) containing the list of references to persons with the surname of interest.